@ParanoidPanda I only ever talked to Muslims who strongly decline such thoughts...

@ParanoidPanda Adolf H. was a veggie as well... :-/ That doesn't really mean a thing.

@ParanoidPanda Of course I do NOT. I would never compare anybody with that.

I just wanted to invalidate your vegan argument.

@ParanoidPanda In support of what?

@ParanoidPanda Did you actually read the article? Or even the article's title?

It argues against your point, not for it.

@ParanoidPanda Actually it says that the link should be treated with caution and there is no reason to assume i) that it was the passport of one of the bombers (who takes their passport on a suicide hit?) ii) that it wasn't stolen (Syrian passports are routinely stolen and sold on the black market).

In any case, even if we assume that the bomber did come in with the refugees and even if we ignore that the rest of them were born and raised in Europe, what does that mean? That we have one psychopath among the 4 million people? Of course we do! Take any random 4 million people and you will find a good deal more than one psycho. That doesn't prove anything.

@ParanoidPanda Did they? Have they?

"An army of them"? I know your name is paranoid but don't take it too far.

What about all the christian fanatics who go around putting bombs and killing them. Should we now ban entry to Christians as well?

@ParanoidPanda Of course. Nobody says otherwise. I'm glad you agree. Now, urge your government to cough up some funds to help mine do its job.

At the moment, Greece has been left to its own devices which, as usual, are insufficient to deal with the problem.

And the people keep washing up on the beaches.

@ParanoidPanda What? No, of course not. They apply for asylum.

But you can't seriously be saying that if one person among hundreds of thousands or even millions is crazy, we should then brand all of them as such?

@ParanoidPanda Residence and maybe the right to work. Not sure. Mostly the right to enter and not be deported, killed or beaten up.

@ParanoidPanda Not freely, I think, no. Not sure though. I know that is one of the main problems.

@ParanoidPanda Stop letting them in. That's like being alone in a life boat and not taking anyone else in because you're afraid of what will happen when you can't take any more. That's absurd. First you take who you can and, once you can take no more, then you stop letting them on.

@ParanoidPanda Huh? Hardly all of Syria and how exactly is it smaller? Are you kidding?

@ParanoidPanda What does that have to do with anything? We're talking about the Syrian refugee crisis.

What, you think all of the Middle East wants to move to Newcastle or something?

@ParanoidPanda Well, maybe you should get your facts straight before building an opinion then. At least look at a map!

The middle east isn't larger than Europe, by the way, either.

Comparable, yes, but not smaller.

Well, I guess it depends on whether you count Russia.

If you don't it might well be slightly larger, OK.

@ParanoidPanda Are you kidding?

OK, now you're just trolling.

You don't know how to get a map from google?

lmgtfy.com/?q=map+of+the+world

Or, if you prefer:

lmddgtfy.net/?q=map%20of%20the%20world

Yeah, not quite :)

You do know that the "Middle East" is not a country right? That is is a term used in the Western world for a whole bunch of very different countries, nations and cultures? Most of whom are several thousand years older than most European cultures.

@ParanoidPanda I was referring to your saying that you don't know where to get a map. I assumed you were joking since I know you're capable of using a search engine.

@ParanoidPanda I'd trust them more than your own knowledge of geography after what you've said.

Seriously, if you're going to have strong opinions on this issue, it would behoove you to learn at least the basics.

Do. Start by reading about just exactly how much pain and suffering Europe and the US have inflicted on the region in the past thousand years or so. To get some perspective.

Otherwise you run the risk of appearing as ignorant as poor, well-meaning Emma Thomspson when she claimed that the response would have been different had the refugees been white.

Umm. Syrians are white.

encrypted.google.com/…

@ParanoidPanda Well, you have very strong opinions on the subject and, apparently, a pretty profound ignorance of it as well. That is a very bad combination.

The historical and geopolitical background is essential to understanding what's going on. It's like all the idiot Americans who thought that September 11th was just a bunch of people "who hate our freedom" instead of a bunch of people who have been driven to fanatical extremism by decades of aggression and are now lashing back in an equally atrocious and murderous way.

Violence begets violence.

We need to know some history to be ab;e to understand why these things happen. It's not as simple as "they hate us for no reason".

@ParanoidPanda Well, perhaps, but I have no way of knowing that. All I know about you is what I read here. Therefore, stunning ignorance (Turkey is above Russia, for example), does not predispose me to take anything else you say very seriously. That's just how conversations work.

If I were to tell you that Ubuntu is a flavor of Windows, you wouldn't be very likely to believe anything else I said on the subject of Linux now, would you?

For all I know, you are an absolute expert on subjectX. But since you haven't told me about X, all I know is your apparent ignorance of Y. That's how our brains work.

I would feel that way about England if I were you.

Move somewhere where the weather isn't quite as atrocious :)

Yes, that's what I meant.

Where in the UK are you anyway?

(And no, I don't want an address, just a general region)

:)

Fair enough, English spelling is insane, even for us chickens.